In a major victory for the Trump Administration, it appears that former CIA Director John Brennan could be prosecuted following an investigation into his use of alleged misinformation to attempt to incriminate President Trump for collusion with Russia in the 2016 presidential election.
For background, current CIA Director John Ratcliffe announced on July 2, 2025, that he had been entrusted with helping to “end weaponization of US intelligence” by President Trump, which led to a careful review of former CIA Director John Brennan and former FBI Director James Comey, which determined that the two had been politically motivated in their investigation of President Trump for alleged collusion with Russia.
In an announcement on X on July 2, 2025, Director Ratcliffe explained that he had conducted a thorough investigation of the 2016 IC Assessment that was used against President Trump, saying, “Today’s report underscores that the 2016 IC Assessment was conducted through an atypical & corrupt process under the politically charged environments of former Dir. Brennan & former FBI Dir. Comey.”
Moreover, the director said that he was “committed to ensuring that our analysts have the ability to deliver unvarnished assessments that are free from political influence,” referring to what the CIA described as a “lessons-learned review of the procedures and tradecraft” used by former Director Brennan to implicate President Trump.
In a subsequent X post, Director Ratcliffe said that the Trump-Russia collusion report issued by former Director Brennan was clearly corrupt, saying, “All the world can now see the truth: Brennan, Clapper, and Comey manipulated intelligence and silenced career professionals — all to get Trump.” He added, “Thank you to the career @CIA officers who conducted this review and exposed the facts.”
In response to Director Ratcliffe’s post, prominent conservatives called for arrests, with General Mike Flynn saying, “Do something about it!!!” Conservative influencer The Maga King (TMK) wrote, “There’s no statute of limitations on treason. So what are you waiting for?” America First candidate Josh Barnett wrote, “Now arrest them!”
Importantly, in its newly released review, the CIA concluded that the “Steele Dossier,” a profoundly anti-Trump document included in the Russian collusion report, was full of issues. The agency wrote, “When confronted with specific flaws in the Dossier by the two mission center leaders—one with extensive operational experience and the other with a strong analytic background—he appeared more swayed by the Dossier’s general conformity with existing theories than by legitimate tradecraft concerns.”
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Continuing, the report made the case that former Director Brennan “ultimately formalized his position in writing, stating that ‘my bottomline (sic) is that I believe that the information warrants inclusion in the report.’” In response to his politically motivated actions, former CIA ops officer Bryan Dean Wright wrote, “My former boss — CIA Director John Brennan — should rot in prison.”
Featured image credit: John Brennan via X